Escaped Warren County inmate Rafael McCloud was shot and killed Thursday during a home invasion in Vicksburg, police said.

“Investigators at the scene have every reason to believe that the suspect in this burglary was Rafael McCloud, although we do not have positive identification from the coroner at this time,” Sheriff Martin Pace said.

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Police said McCloud broke into a home through a garage in the 600 block of Fort Hill Drive as the 30-year-old homeowner and his 5-year-old son were leaving about 4:30 a.m. McCloud, who police said was armed with a knife, forced the man and the boy back into the house.

The homeowner told police that McCloud tied him up in the bathroom, but he was able to free himself and fought with McCloud. During the struggle, the homeowner was stabbed in shoulder, police said.

After regaining control of the homeowner, McCloud held the man, the child and the man's 24-year-old wife in the bathroom.

At some point, the man's wife was allowed to leave the bathroom, and she returned with a handgun, police said. She fired one shot that is believed to have struck McCloud, police said. The wife cut her husband's restraints and he took the gun and fired additional shots, striking McCloud, police said.

The family ran outside, flagged down a passerby and called 911 at about 7 a.m., police said.

Police found McCloud in the bathtub suffering from several gunshot wounds. The Warren County coroner pronounced him dead at the scene. His body was taken to the state crime lab in Jackson, where an autopsy will be performed, police said.

“We have been working on this case for more than a week. The hunt for Rafael McCloud, we believe, now is over,” Chief Walter Armstrong said.

McCloud was charged in the kidnapping and death of Sharen Wilson, 69, whose body was found last June at the abandoned Kuhn Memorial Hospital in Vicksburg.

A reward of more than $26,000, was offered for information leading to McCloud's capture. Armstrong said the homeowner is not technically eligible to receive the Crime Stoppers reward, but could be given money raised through a GoFundMe account set up by Wilson's friends.

"We are in the process of identifying how we can distribute this money to benefit the family who was victimized by this man (Thursday) morning," a post on the GoFundMe page said. "If circumstances prevent us from giving it directly to the family, we will go through a charitable organization to do so."